Treatment of Ethanol Intoxication

To the Editor: As a neurologist living in the city that lays claim to the original Skid Road, I have had the opportunity of treating many alcoholics with withdrawal seizures. It is with great interest, then, that I read “Alcohol Intoxication and Withdrawal” by Sellers and Kalant (N Engl J Med 294;757-762, 1976). In this Drug Therapy review the authors present their approach to the management of what Maurice Victor terms the “abstinence syndrome.”¹Their guidelines for treating the agitation, tremor and hallucinosis, commonly seen in the acute withdrawal state, are helpful. However, their recommendations for management of withdrawal. . .